Sunday, 18 September 2016

Operation Crucible: A Testament to Sheffield's Strength

Hello again! This blog was written for Sheffield Theatres about Operation Crucible.

Operation Crucible tells the story of four steel
workers who become trapped in the basement of Sheffield’s Marples Hotel which
was bombed during the winter of 1940. The Crucible’s Studio space becomes the
workers’ foundry and their prison. Although the story of the workers is
fictionalised, the emotions behind it are unequivocally human and real.

Kieran
Knowles’ debut play is fast paced and combines physical theatre with energetic
dialogue. The four male characters’ camaraderie is formed within the foundry
and remains unbreakable even with football rivalries, and this provides a great
deal of good-natured teasing. However the moments of stillness throughout the
play cut through this and remind the audience why this story is being told. The
lighting effects are superb and cut very quickly from bright flashbacks to the
darkness and silence of being trapped with only candlelight to see. The audio
track of falling rubble and bombs in the distance also emphasises the
claustrophobic nature of being buried and makes the long silences all the more
deafening. The audience are reached out to and engaged directly by being
brought into the story from the very start through the characters’ reflections
on Sheffield’s industrial heritage. The sparse set allows the actors to become
everyone and everything they encounter – the machines within the foundry and
the people working within them. The actors themselves become Sheffield. The
play is as much a celebration of Sheffield’s industrial heritage as it is a
lament for those who lost their lives within the Blitz. The title, Operation Crucible, takes its name from
the German codename for the strategic bombing of Sheffield and other cities
known for their munitions factories. These characters’ professions were
protected because of their importance to the war effort and this is addressed
within the play as the men contemplate whether or not they would have wanted to
join the army. However the play does not just focus on the impact on the male
workers; the women of steel also have their moment. Their scene highlights how
the foundry was incredibly important for everyone who lived in Sheffield and how
the women were just as capable at their jobs as the men. The teasing, fast
dialogue continues right through. Operation
Crucible is a play that at its heart celebrates the strength of Sheffield
to carry on in spite of adversity.

Funnily
enough, the play premiered in the Finborough theatre in London before coming to
Sheffield, which saw the play receiving different reactions from the audiences
and humour being found in different places. Sheffield is a proud city and this
sentiment carries out into the audience; most of whom are from Sheffield and
were either alive or knew someone alive during the Blitz. The human experiences
told build and gather momentum throughout the play and so the audience become
totally invested in the lives of these four men. Operation Crucible received a standing ovation from the audience
and it is an emotive piece of theatre that everyone living in or from Sheffield
should definitely go see.

As young
ambassadors, we had the privilege of meeting the cast – Salvatore D’Aquilla,
Kieran Knowles, Paul Tinto and James Wallwork – for a Q&A session after the
performance. This was really interesting because we were able to hear in detail
about the research process for the production and how the storylines of the
characters changed from men who were unable to go to war because of medical
reasons after finding the story of the Marples hotel and how steel workers’
professions were protected. It became important to tell this story as Sheffield
was beginning to forget its own history and this was the biggest loss of life
on a single night within the city. The steel heart of Sheffield beats once
again as this significant event in the history of the city is relived through the
eyes of ordinary working men and tells the story of Sheffield’s industrial
heritage.